If approved, the agreement would halt fighting and bombardment in Gaza’s deadliest-ever war and initiate the release of dozens of hostages held in the territory since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
The ceasefire, due to begin Sunday after more than a year of war, would take effect on the eve of Donald Trump’s inauguration as president of the United States.
But even before the start of the truce, Gazans displaced by the war to other parts of the territory were preparing to return to their homes.
“I will go to kiss my land, and I already regret leaving Gaza and my land. If I die on my land, it would be better than being here as a displaced person.”
In Tel Aviv, pensioner Simon Patya said he felt “great joy” that some hostages would return alive, but also “great sorrow for those who are returning in bags, and that will be a very strong blow, morally”.
The lead-up to Friday’s security cabinet meeting has been fraught with uncertainty, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office accusing Hamas of reneging on key parts of the deal to extort last-minute concessions -- an allegation Hamas denied.
“The government will then convene to approve the deal,“ it added.
“I am confident, and I fully expect that implementation will begin, as we said, on Sunday,“ he said.
Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israel pounded several areas of the territory after the deal was announced on Wednesday, killing more than 100 people and wounding hundreds since then.
The war began with the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.
Israel’s ensuing campaign has destroyed much of Gaza, killing 46,788 people, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the UN considers reliable.
The ceasefire agreement followed intensified efforts from mediators after months of fruitless negotiations, and with Trump’s team taking credit for working with US President Joe Biden’s administration to seal the deal.
A senior Biden official said the unlikely pairing had been a decisive factor in reaching the deal.
Also in the first phase, Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza’s densely populated areas and allow displaced Palestinians to return “to their residences”, he said.
He added the deal would “surge much needed humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians, and reunite the hostages with their families”.
Cairo said it was ready to host an international conference on reconstruction in Gaza, where the United Nations has said it would take more than a decade to rebuild civilian infrastructure.
The World Health Organization’s representative in the Palestinian territories, Rik Peeperkorn, said Thursday that at least $10 billion would probably be needed over the next five to seven years to rebuild Gaza’s devastated health system alone.
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